Slow Cookin’ Turtle Burger Costume

Toa is my 10 year old African Sulcata. He is very friendly and loves going on walks. I have had him for 8 years. I decided to make him a costume this year so others can enjoy seeing him. He is getting so big it has become a huge task taking him places. I really wanted people to enjoy his amazingly friendly personality.

There seems to be a huge appetite for gourmet burgers this year. Also, green chile is a staple on all foods in New Mexico where we live. It seemed like a perfect situation for me to create this costume for Toa. He was given several apples to keep him still enough for me to get the foam shaped perfectly. I invested several hours over a 2 week period to get this costume ready. I created the Burger out of layers of foam. The bun is made out of felt and batting to make it fluffy and lightweight. I painted it with craft paint and used Adhesive spray to hold it together. An artificial Green chile, sesame seeds and toothpick topped it off. It took a couple of weeks to get the fit correct. It makes me happy to see peoples reactions to him. He loves the limelight.

There was a local contest being held at a pet food store. We decided to enter him in their annual pet costume contest. Our intentions were to take him to get his photo taken for the contest that ends next Friday. The crowd got bigger by the minute. The local news crew showed up shortly after just for us. Toa was in heaven as all of the spectators gathered around. People were pulling over to get a glimpse and take photos. There was a fast food burger place next door. The patrons from there also came over. We expected to show up, take a photo and be in our way. We ended up answering several questions and staying an hour.

Last night people were sending me messages because his picture had gone viral.